More On-The-Go ChoicesMore On-The-Go Choices

Microsoft upgraded its Solution for Hosted Messaging and Collaboration software last week to give small and midsize businesses more low-cost choices of communications tools and services for mobile devices, including push E-mail, document sharing, and support for smart phones and PDAs running Windows Mobile 5.0.

Version 3.5 of the messaging and collaboration software provides hosting service providers with tools that will allow them to automate 85% of deployment procedures and lets them offer new services faster.

Services, expected to be available from hosting providers by January, include mobile E-mail pushed from servers to mobile devices and security capabilities such as wiping data from devices that have been lost or stolen. The features work with smart phones or PDAs running Windows Mobile 5.0, which also will be available at the beginning of the year, says Morgan Cole, senior product manager at Microsoft.

Microsoft is aiming the software at businesses with 10 to 250 users; it costs $7 to $12 per user monthly, depending on the hosted service provider.

Using push E-mail could save employees time, says Steve Minozzi, co-founder of Monte Bros. Sound Systems Inc., a $3 million-a-year company with 11 contractors that travel around the country to install sound systems. Contractors access a hosted E-mail service at Wi-Fi hot-spots or use the Web browser on their Nextel cell phones. With push E-mail, contractors could solve problems faster by E-mailing a support center for a fix and getting an instant response, Minozzi says.

This approach is more affordable than in-house messaging systems, such as the BlackBerry Enterprise Server. "We want the services," Minozzi says, "but we don't have the IT guys to manage them, so it's very cost-efficient to have a hosting provider do it for us."